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Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Summer is rolling along if a bit roughly....

Little Percy has left our farm. Last Thursday Gudrun and her family picked him up. It was so nice to meet them all and see how surprised and joyful her daughter Maya was with her 10th birthday gift. We have heard from them and he is settling in with their two other older cats!

Still looking for a home for the black kitten we call Miley. This cat is going to be a serious hunter if you know anyone with a mouse and rodent problem. I have one lead but not sure it is going to come through. I'm pretty sure the other two - Zelda and Hannah - are placed and will be leaving within a couple weeks.

Summer is so busy this year. The weather has been putting a wrench in all the farming and gardening activities. We had a good 3 days of no rain. I worked in my garden while the Farmer ran around making hay all over the place. Unfortunately two enormous windy thunderstorms came through yesterday. Although there were tarps on the hay wagons that were filled with square bales (that he paid a farmer to put up - or let's say, hasn't paid yet....) the tarps let go in the 50 mph winds. The big bales in the field below are just sitting there getting wet too. Frustration abounds. Last night wasn't a fun night at our house. It's not a good summer to be making hay. I can't imagine how expensive hay is going to be next winter. We're hoping we eventually harvest enough decent quality hay to feed the sheep.

While I was gardening, Julia decided she should start a blog called "KOFU" or Kids of Farmer's Unite. I felt bad that I couldn't be taking her all over town on the 4th of July holiday but with the classes coming up here at the farm and all the foilage around here running wild, I had no choice but to garden, snip, clip, sweep, and weed the weekend away.

We've got a sheep shearing date with Kevin Ford and his pal on July 16th - next Thursday. I am hoping that it will happen. The sheep are ready to be rid of their wooly coats. They can't be shorn unless they are dry and we have no barn to put them in to dry out. Stay tuned is all I can say.

Still running around to Farmer's Markets selling lamb. That's a story for another day.

We all had to spend the day in Springfield at the hospital. Julia is a juvenille diabetic and she is starting insulin pump therapy. We met with a Medtronic training specialist for 4 hours. Julia's school nurse even attended. It's all a bit confusing right now but once a couple weeks go by, we'll be up to speed. This week she wears the pump with a saline solution for practice. Next week, insulin is introduced and our life with needles disappears. From 5 shots a day down to one site change (which requires a needle) every two days. It will be great and hopefully her glucose control will improve too.

you are busy crazy! Tell Julia good luck on her blog!! (exciting, she's growing up so fast!)Awe, to the kitties. We have 4 wild stray babies living under the neighbors shed. They are getting quite fat but very wild, we can't get near them.

I'm sending good weather Karma to you. I hate those times when the weather makes you run around like an idiot, trying to batton down everything and then when it passes, looking over all to view the damage...ugh.

Yes, the pump will change her life. My daughter's boyfriend uses it...he also had childhood type....BUT someday soon, there will be a better way, eh????

Kristin,My son has had diabetes since age five, and having an insulin pump made his day to day life so much easier! I still remember the first day he had it. When he was hungry at 2pm, he didn't have to have a no-carb snack. Instead I took him out for a huge hamburger, and as he wolfed it down, I sat and cried with happiness. James is now 19 and in college, and he deals with his disease very well. Best wishes to Julia!

I hope Julia likes the pump - my daughter got one 2 years ago and she loves it. Lindsay is 27 and was diagnosed twenty years ago. The pump makes her life so much easier. The weather is playing havoc with our summer too, can't seem to plan anything outdoors.

In our area we are so dry that we may not be able to plant our crop of canning beans. The first crop hay was taken off and on many fields there will be no second or third crop. Our spring was so cold that we had trouble with the corn coming out of the ground and now it's so dry that the short little plants are starting to curl up. We have our cows on pasture and the ponds that they usually get water from are so low that we are carting water to them. We will probably have to start feeding them hay this summer instead of waiting until this winter.

It takes very special people to be farmers and it takes very Very special people to be married to farmers and to be children of farmers. I think I'd like to be just a little less special sometimes, wouldn't you?

Good luck with all your weather and kitty issues. ;) wish we could take one.Although I don't have diabetes I work with a few people who use the insulin pump and they love it. It has really made a big difference in their lives! I hope that Julia has the same kind of great experience.Best of luck!

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